Want proof? Check out Nuggets’ beat reporter Benjamin Hochman after the team’s shoot-around Saturday. He’d followed a group of Nuggets players down one corridor of the Pepsi Center hoping to grab a few minutes with Carmelo Anthony, but when he caught up to the group, he realized Anthony wasn’t among the players. They told him Carmelo was actually leaving the Pepsi Center through another exit, clear across the building.

Carmelo Anthony on the bench during the fourth quarter in a loss to the Spurs on Sunday. (AP)

SAN ANTONIO – It’s almost fitting that news broke of an impending meeting between the Nets and Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony in the city of the Alamo.

Consider this the Nuggets’ and Nets’ last stand. They can only hope it ends better than that did for the Texian Army in 1836.

Anthony doesn’t want to sign an extension with the Nets. If he did, this teeth-pulling exercise probably wouldn’t be necessary and he would have done so long ago. Anthony’s reluctance to give a definitive verdict — or the two organizations’ reluctance to accept one to the negative – has kept the Nets portion of the trade saga going. This is probably the week we reach a final ruling one way or another on a trade that involves Anthony and 13 or more other players, one of which is Chauncey Billups who’d rather stay in Denver.

Though they are now thousands of miles apart, Chris Bosh and Masai Ujiri have remained good friends.

The two were both employees for the Toronto Raptors last season; Bosh a player, Ujiri an executive. Ujiri, then Toronto’s assistant general manager, witnessed from arm’s length much of what is happening to him up close this year in the general manager’s seat in Denver. The two instances have their differences, but both involve a superstar that isn’t satisfied with where he is (or was) and desired a change.

Carmelo Anthony is still a Nugget for now. A source earlier this month had told me that the Nets had not been given clear indication that Melo would sign the extension to play for New Jersey. And now ESPN.com is reporting that it’s still the case today.

Melo was asked today if there’s a scenario in which he’d not end up on the Nets – and he was quite coy, saying, “I don’t know. I can’t answer that question – I don’t want to answer that question.”

The Nuggets front office, meanwhile, continues to discuss different trade scenarios, as they try to come up with the way to gather the most assets possible.

The Miami Heat is coming to town for a Thursday night game. Melo said he talks to his buddies LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

As the trade talks continue – nothing imminent yet – Chauncey Billups spoke candidly Tuesday about the reality that he could be traded from Denver – the same team and city he was purposefully traded to, when Detroit granted his wish in 2008, moving him back to his hometown.

Billups, perhaps more than any public figure, embodies the city of Denver.

This season, Billups was always a down about the reality that Carmelo Anthony wanted out of Denver, but Billups understood it was a business. But then, he was roped into it.

Carmelo Anthony at the Nuggets practice court in the Pepsi Center on Monday. (Steve Nehf, The Denver Post)

You got to give the Nuggets’ front office credit – what could have been Derrick Favors, Andrei Kirilenko and some picks has turned into (potentially) a bevy of assets. Yes, it looks like the Nuggets will be doing the dreaded R-word (rebuilding), but if things go the way sources have said they could, the Nuggets will have Ty Lawson at point, Favors in the post and a plethora of possibilities — in regards to trades (as we near the deadline), drafting (the Nets pick should be pretty valuable this summer) and in roster management (they’d even be closer to the luxury tax line if the big deal goes down).

A Nuggets source told me today he doesn’t see the trade happening today. At practice, both Carmelo Anthony and George Karl spoke to the media.

Melo still danced around the issue of signing the extension – and he said “that’s just my feeling” that a trade won’t happen imminently.

LOS ANGELES – Hello from LAX, where I swear I’m sitting next to the inspiration for the John Candy character in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

Just got an e-mail from the NBA, announcing the “third returns” (?) for the NBA All-Star Game voting. Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony remains second in the Western Conference forward voting. Of course, it’s very possible that Melo will be traded to New Jersey (or, maybe New York) by the All-Star Game. If that would happen, Melo would (likely) have the fourth-most votes of Eastern Conference forwards, behind LeBron James, Kevin Garnett and Amare Stoudemire. At which point, the league would have to finagle a way to get this superstar on the all-star roster.

Ty Lawson (3) has been terrific for the Nuggets this season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

The dawn of a new calendar year generally marks the time when those engrossed in football begin to turn their attention in earnest to the hardwood. The Nuggets have had a season’s worth of stories in just over two months. We know you haven’t paid attention to every dribble and that’s why this is here to catch you up. Here’s what you missed:

SAN ANTONIO – If not for this morning’s startling/saddening news of a death in Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, which will keep him off the court tonight against San Antonio, the team would be staring at its first full available roster of the season.

As it stands, that should happen soon.

But tonight, as Anthony tends to much more important family business, the Nuggets look forward to the returns of big men Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen, and guard Chauncey Billups. All three were out with injuries – for Martin, tonight will be his season debut – and all are expected to give the team a nice boost.

“I’d be surprised if anyone came in (tonight) and said they were sore,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “I think they are all going to be ready to play.”

Carmelo Anthony, still reeling from a bout with the flu, practiced in a long sleeve hoodie this afternoon trying to keep warm in preparation for the Nuggets’ game Wednesday night against Milwaukee.

“I still feel weak,” Anthony said afterward. “I have no energy. I tried to come out here today just to try to break a sweat, get loose a little bit. But I’m still trying to find my energy.”

Still, Anthony said he’ll try to play in the upcoming game against the Bucks.

“I’m going to try and see how it goes,” Anthony said. “I’ll wake up tomorrow, see how I feel before the game and see what happens. It ain’t no 24-hour virus, I’ll tell you that. I’ve been trying to get as much rest, eat the proper foods. I try not to take too many medicines. No meds. I’m not a big medicine guy.”

Anthony may or may not take an IV prior to the contest. That course of action did not help him much prior to Sunday night’s game.

“I took two IV’s before the game the other day but I don’t think that seemed to work at all,” Anthony said. “I don’t know. I’m going to keep fighting, try to get through it.”

If you needed a shot to win the game, who in the NBA would you have take it?

If Denver’s Carmelo Anthony isn’t your guy, how high is he on your list? These numbers might help sort some things out, courtesy the NBA.

Last Friday in a win over Chicago, Anthony nailed his 14th career game-winning shot, all of which have come within the final seven seconds of the game. Thirteen of Anthony’s 14 game winners have come in the regular season. In his career during the regular season, Anthony has made 15-of-33 shots (.455) that have either tied a game or given his team the lead in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter/overtime. The Elias Sports Bureau determined that Anthony’s 45 percent last-second shot success rate is the highest of any player with a minimum of 20 attempts since the star forward came into the league seven years ago.

So who is on your list?

These are the only active players that have more regular season game-winning shots than Anthony:

SAN FRANCISCO – I didn’t grow a beard to be as cool as Brian Wilson, just like I didn’t once frost my tips to be as cool as *NSYNC – it just worked out that way.

But unlike San Francisco’s Wilson in the Fall Classic, my beard was not feared in my summertime wiffleball games – one time, Nate Kreckman’s homer off me traveled so far, it had to stop for gas (He was like Paste on Bases Loaded).

As for the Giants’ closer, Wilson is one of the loonier athletes on the planet (though possibly not from said planet):

At 6-11, 250 pounds Nene is one of the biggest players on the Nuggets roster, yet he’s been so difficult for the team to find.

In the midst of aggressive scorers like Carmelo Anthony, Al Harrington and Chauncey Billups, Nene has sometimes found it difficult to get going on the offensive end himself. To remedy that, the Nuggets put him in the spotlight in their win against New York.

In the game, the team started both halves dumping the ball in to Nene on the block, and he responded with his most aggressive and efficient game of the season, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting highlighted by a couple of monster dunks.

Going forward, don’t be surprised to see more of a concerted effort to get Nene the ball with the intent on having him make a strong move to the rim.

“The big key is finding him a little bit. I think right now we don’t find him as often as we need to find him,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “When we do find him we usually get efficient, effective results. That’s something our whole team has got to understand. Effective, efficient results is better than playing one-on-one and taking tough shots.”

On the season Nene is averaging 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. His rebounds are down by nearly two per game from last season, no doubt due in part to Anthony’s renewed vigor on the glass (9.4 rpg) as well as solid rebounding efforts this season from newcomers Al Harrington (5.6) and Shelden Williams (7.5).

But the Nuggets know they can’t reach their full potential without a steady, significant presence in the post. Nene is the player the team wants in that role on a nightly basis.

“I think that’s an important part of the personality (of the team),” Karl said, “that we get more consistent with his personality being a part of both our offense and our defense.”

Soon after he was signed to a max contract with the New York Knicks in the summer, Amar’e Stoudemire turned from basketball player to recruiter. And after the dust settled on the LeBron James/Dywane Wade/Chris Bosh union, his gaze – along with every Knicks fan’s – turned toward Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony.

Back then he said he’d like to team with Anthony in New York. Today, as he sat in front of assorted media during Knicks shootaround, he wasn’t about to back off of those comments.

“Again, we all love Carmelo here,” Stoudemire said. “We understand what type of player he is and how he can help the team. But we can’t focus on that right now. We have to focus on the situation at hand and try to rack up some wins.”

There is no doubt the star forward has already thought a time or two about what the Knicks might look like with Anthony. New York has limped out of the gate to a 3-7 record and Stoudemire has voiced his displeasure about the situation.

But asked if he has talked to Anthony about trades or anything else about Nuggets’ star’s situation, he said no.

“I haven’t talked to him this season yet,” Stoudemire said. “We text back and forth every now and then about good game, congratulations, things of that nature. But we really haven’t talked about a specific team or situation at all.”

The two are very good friends.

“I love Carmelo,” Stoudemire said. “He’s a good friend of mine. Anytime you could team up with great friends of yours it would be a lot of fun. But again, we both have our individual situations with our particular teams, and we have to focus in on that. So we can’t determine what the near future holds. But anytime you can team up with a good friend, that would be great.”

Anthony is off to a solid start with the Nuggets, averaging a near double-double of 24.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He had the first 20-20 game of his career on Monday night against Phoenix, finishing with 20 points and 22 rebounds.

“I see him more physical this year, to be honest with you,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He had a couple dunks last game that we haven’t seen, and he looks good.”

Because Anthony is playing so well, Stoudemire says it wouldn’t shock him to see Anthony stay in Denver the entire season.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Stoudemire said. “Denver is playing well, and he’s playing well. Still not totally sure how it’s all going to play out.”

Still, Stoudemire warned, “It’ll be tough. As a team you don’t want a player to leave and then you don’t get nothing for him. So it’s a tough decision for any organization. But again, it can happen that way. It happened that way this offseason. So you never know what may happen.”

“I hope not, because it is part of the business, something that you have to deal with daily,” D’Antoni said. “And as soon as you learn that’s just the way it is and understand that basketball speaks, you get on the court do the best you can and understand it’s a business. That’s part of being in the league. Hopefully it hasn’t, but you’d have to ask him.”

With new players like Al Harrington, Shelden Williams and Gary Forbes while injured players Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin are on the bench, Nuggets coach George Karl has played a seemingly never-ending game of mix-and-match with different lineup combinations and rotations. They change depending on a number of constantly evolving variables.

But there’s one lineup where the tinkering may be able to stop: We’ll call it Karl’s Hustle Lineup. The quintet of Ty Lawson, J.R. Smith, Al Harrington, Gary Forbes and Arron Afflalo is doing the trick.

On Thursday those five ushered the Nuggets past the Lakers in the most important stretch of the contest, taking the Nuggets from 95-90 down at 10:03 to 101-95 up at 7:39.

Harrington was the leader.

His defense against Lakers center Pau Gasol gave the Nuggets’ rally staying power by removing the ability to get easy, high-percentage buckets from the Lakers’ arsenal. He fronted Gasol for the majority of the period, which most often discouraged entry passes. On one occasion he tipped away an attempted pass down to Gasol, which sparked a Nuggets fast break.

It forced the Lakers and Gasol to alter a tried-and-true game plan a bit by bringing him up for screen-roll plays. But the Nuggets had those bottled up as well. Once, when Gasol did catch the ball in the post, Harrington forced him across the lane without giving ground. Deterred from getting the shot he wanted the Lakers center passed the ball instead – to a waiting Nuggets player.

The Lakers had five possessions in the period from 10:03 to 7:39, and this is how they went:

*A missed shot and a Nuggets defensive rebound, leading to a fast break

*A Harrington deflection, leading to a Lawson steal of a Matt Barnes pass to Gasol

Four turnovers – three of them steals – zero points. And like that, the Nuggets had an 11-0 run and lead that set them up in prime position to win the game.

In addition to fronting Gasol, the Nuggets trapped Bryant on pick-and-rolls. One trap led to the pass that Smith got a hand on and Forbes picked off. Smith and Lawson had the most active hands of the bunch as they constantly harassed Lakers ballhandlers.

While this might have been the most effective those five have been in any single defensive stretch this young season, it’s by no means the first time they’ve shown the ability to do so. What they give up in height, they’ve made up for in sheer scrappiness. Forbes is a long-armed, instinctive defender; Lawson and Smith both boast quick feet and fast hands; Afflalo is a top-shelf on-ball defender; and Harrington has a sneaky, undervalued combination of strength and quick hands.

Eventually Martin and Andersen will be back, which will alter the dynamic and help improve the Nuggets defense overall. But until they come back, Lawson, Smith, Forbes, Afflalo and Harrington are proving they can not just hold their own, but spark the team on the defensive end.

Thursday, it was that collective that saved the Nuggets and sunk the previously unbeaten Lakers.

Sometimes, Bill Walton confuses himself with Dr. James Naismith. You know, the guy with the funny glasses and a peach basket who invented basketball.

Usually, I wish Walton would keep his mouth closed. He’s incredibly negative. But Walton was on to something with his honest assessment of the Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony.

Last week, appearing with Michael Kay on ESPN Radio 1050 in New York, Walton was asked if Melo’s playing style would fit well with the Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire. Walton not only said no, he went out of his way to take Anthony down a notch or two.

“Carmelo, to me, does not have what it takes to be the great player,” Walton said. “He puts up nice numbers. Makes a great salary. Media and publicity and all like him. But does he win the games? Does he make the squad better? Does he pull guys together? It hasn’t happened in Denver at all. I’m a big Amar’e Stoudemire fan. I will hold my tongue on Carmelo.”

Nobody likes it hear a local star get ripped by somebody like Walton. But really, if we’re being honest, Melo simply is not in the same class as Kobe, LeBron or even Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant.

I’m big into the ‘why’ behind the ‘what.’ Love the Xs and Os and inner workings of basketball. With that in mind, this is will become a regular feature this season from me, breaking down why things are occurring on the court with the Nuggets. First up: Arron Afflalo.

Afflalo started the season with a bang, nearly tying his career-high with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting in 34 minutes in the Nuggets’ season-opening win Wednesday night over Utah. This from a player that averaged 8.8 points per game a season ago and only eclipsed the 20-point mark twice.

So how did we get from there to here?

Aggressiveness.

Last season, Afflalo was basically a catch-and-shoot player, the guy that stood at the arc and waited for the ball to come to him. He was the kick-out guy. Carmelo Anthony or Chauncey Billups or Ty Lawson would get into the lane and pass the ball out to him for a 3-point try, and Afflalo was one of the best in the league at knocking down those opportunities. It’s a tough way to earn an NBA living, being asked to knock down the majority of a limited amount of chances, but Afflalo was able to navigate those waters smoothly.

Last season, 47.4 percent of Afflalo’s scoring came from spot-up shooting. Of his 113 3-point makes, 99 of them were of that variety. Usually when Afflalo was scoring in big numbers it was because his 3-point shots were falling. For instance, he scored 24 points against Charlotte on Jan. 25 on the strength of 6-of-7 from the 3-point line. The game prior to that, he scored 19 points against New Orleans powered by 5-of-9 from 3-point range.

So you’ve been over the reasons why Carmelo Anthony should or should not stay with the Nuggets and you’re mad/sad/frustrated/perplexed. Or not. But in any event you’ve been thinking about it.

And with all of the rumors and proposed deals and jockeying behind the scenes going on, you’re also wondering, if the team is ultimately going to move him anyway why won’t they just do it now?

We know the Nuggets are searching and negotiating the best deal for them, while still trying to satisfy Anthony as well. We also know that there is (was?) a belief in the organization that if they could just get Anthony to the regular season – which, for the Nuggets starts on Oct. 27 – and win a bunch of games, the superstar would see Denver really is the place for him and his family.

But here’s where it also benefits the Nuggets to drag their feet a bit and have Carmelo start the season in powder blue.

Carmelo Anthony laughs it up on the bench against OKC on Tuesday. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

If Carmelo Anthony ends up with the New York Knicks, he should bend over backward to thank a franchise that not only reluctantly let their superstar go, but waited and fulfilled his every wish to do so.

That will have been a big-time classy move by the Nuggets, my friends.

Anthony could be in New Jersey right this minute. And while that would be fine with him, particularly since the team has plans to move to Brooklyn in the near future, it just wouldn’t be the Knicks. Anthony loves playing in The Garden. He says it every time he goes to New York for a game, and he’ll say it again in December, if he’s still a Nugget by then.

One of the most overblown aspects of this entire story has been the willingness of many to interpret Anthony’s words of fondness for playing in The Garden into meaning he wanted to play for the Knicks. But he does.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times.